Lucas Oil Series will be in town

On Saturday night, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes into Hagerstown Speedway for the 37th annual Stanley Schetrompf Classic featuring some of the top national Dirt Late Model drivers such as Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Josh Richards, and Jimmy Owens. They will battle the best of the region in a 50-lap feature event […]

On Saturday night, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series comes into Hagerstown Speedway for the 37th annual Stanley Schetrompf Classic featuring some of the top national Dirt Late Model drivers such as Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Josh Richards, and Jimmy Owens. They will battle the best of the region in a 50-lap feature event for a $12,000 top-prize payday.

It won’t be a cakewalk for the national touring pros, as local drivers Gary Stuhler, Trever Feathers and Jason Covert are expected to be in attendance to defend the home turf while taking on some of the best in the business.

Hagerstown Speedway has a long and storied history with various national Dirt Late Model traveling series, making the Hub City oval a popular stop on tour. In the early 1980s, the National Dirt Racing Association (NDRA) was the biggest series and the best drivers in the country followed it. The NDRA made a few stops at Hagerstown, and one of the most memorable races took place there in 1983.

On June 11, 1983, the Free State Super National 100 featured the first Dirt Late Model race that paid a whopping $50,000 to win. That is huge money to pay out in any dirt race today, let alone 35 years ago. Tennessee racer Jeff Purvis didn’t exactly walk away with the big check that night. Purvis started on the front row but tangled with Ohio’s “Racin” John Mason on the first lap and cut a tire.

Purvis came into the pit under the caution, his crew changed the tire and he went back out at the rear of the 32-car field. Then, the real show began.

Purvis passed a car per lap to reach the runner-up spot by Lap 34. He maintained the position behind the legendary Freddy Smith at the Lap-50 break for a fuel stop. Over the second half of the race, Smith maintained a lead over Purvis until his car’s handling began to go awry. A caution flag waved with just 10 laps remaining to give Purvis the chance needed to win.

On lap 96, Purvis pulled low to the inside of Smith’s car and went on to win the biggest paying race in history at that time.

It was a pass that was worth $40,000 as Smith took home $10,000 for his second-place finish.

Over the years, other national tours such as STARS, Hav-A-Tampa and the World of Outlaws have made numerous stops at Hagerstown. Because of the amount of traveling series and high-paying races, Hagerstown got the nickname “The Capitol of Dirt Racing”.

The tradition of hosting a touring series continues April 21 with what many consider the best of the best when it comes to Dirt Late Models. General admission is $32, and grandstand gates open at 5:00 p.m. The Pure Stock division will also be on the card for a special event.

If you plan on going, be there as early as possible to get your seat. It’s the only time of the year the LOLMDS comes this way, so if you don’t want to miss it, then you better be there.

Last Lap Quick Notes: It’s hard for me to believe that it has already been four years ago this week that Finish Line debuted. Prior to 2014, I never imagined that I’d be composing my thoughts into words for the public to see. I haven’t counted how many columns that I’ve written, but I can tell you it’s many more than I ever expected to do. I still enjoy it, and I hope you do, too.

If you cannot make it to Hagerstown for the LOLMDS race on Saturday, they will be in action at Port Royal Speedway on Sunday evening.

Speaking of Jeff Purvis, he either won or ran really well when he came to this area. He also won the Winchester 200 in 1985 after arriving to the track late. With no hot lap practice time, Purvis had just enough time to unload the car and suit up before his time trial qualifying lap. He set quick time.

Purvis went on to a successful career in ARCA and NASCAR before an unfortunate injury due to an accident at Nazareth Speedway in Pennsylvania during a Busch Grand National race ended his career.

Lance Dewease had a great weekend racing against the Arctic Cat All Stars, picking up wins at Williams Grove on Friday and Port Royal on Saturday. He netted $10,000 in the process.

Bryan Bernheisel (SLM), Justin Weaver (LMS), Doug Hoffman (PS) and Jonathan Raley (HS) were all features winners last Saturday at Hagerstown. It was finally a beautiful, pleasantly warm evening for racing. The four-division show was efficiently run off in just around the three hour mark.

I was able to not only complete the press release by 11:15 but also worked in a Waffle House stop on the way home with my wife and son.

Several SLM teams from the area ventured south to Virginia Motor Speedway in Saluda for the King of the Commonwealth 60 that paid $20,000 to win. The race was won by traveling star Jonathan “Superman” Davenport. Kyle Hardy, out of Stephens City, Virginia, finished ninth while Bunker Hill driver Andy Anderson came home in 20th. Fifty-six cars attempted to make the 24-car field.

I’m certain that I’ve made a reference to this before, that it amazes me to see what the most coveted ticket in NASCAR racing once was playing host to a ghost town at Bristol Motor Speedway. I know weather factored into the light crowd, but Bristol used to have a waiting list for tickets that sold out 160,000 seats twice a year.